Kurt Elling Quotes
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I'm one of the culprits who keeps turning stuff around, shaking up original tunes and trying to stand the canon on its ear. But sometimes, you just need to sing the song.
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I've tried to learn as much as I can about the great jazz singers to understand what makes them important, vital artists, but there is always something more to learn.
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You don't just let a guy drop off the earth and not come together with everybody who knew him and loved him and respected him. You try to do it the right way.
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I try to sleep as much as I can. I drink a lot of water. I practice consistently and just try to be ready for the gig.
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It's pretty rare in jazz to have a full-on steady band.
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Grammy nominations are certainly pleasant, but you can forget about them and lead a perfectly happy life - provided you have the approval of the musicians you work with.
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There is an actor's responsibility in presenting the emotional content of the lyrics to an audience. But whether you do that in a straightforward fashion or an ironic fashion or a blase fashion is all about opportunities, and singers are missing opportunities as artists if they don't pay attention to the lyric.
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Chicago has a burly, action-oriented but still self-assured and relaxed confidence to its stride. The city has a lot of wide-open space and all the possibilities that suggests. There's a lot of horizontal grandeur here.
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You want to be doing your best work whatever field of the arts you're in because your life's going to be over all too soon, and you have to make the most of it.
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Why limit yourself to one discipline or field of study?
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I've worked with a number of big bands, but there's nothing in life like the Basie band.
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I didn't arrive on the scene until after Jaco Pastorius had passed, but 'Three Views of a Secret' is a long-time favourite of mine.
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I'm thrilled when I hear the greatest jazz musicians. They continue to search in ways other musicians do not.
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Each of the CDs prior to 'Flirting With Twilight' were more like roller-coaster rides.
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There's a wide spectrum of possibilities in how to deliver a song.
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Every record is a gate of a certain kind for me.
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The great jazz and jazz-influenced singers carry themselves with a certain panache and a certain elegance and, for lack of a better word, self-confidence.
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I know how hard it's been for me to get my thing out there.
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I haven't been afraid of John Coltrane or Miles Davis or Bill Evans or Wayne Shorter or Herbie Hancock. Why would I be afraid of the Beatles?
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Salacious? I suppose every once in a while the salacious thing is not a bad thing. It's kind of monochromatic if that's all you do.
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There's a spiritual complement to any attempt at transposing a commitment to humanity through music or art.
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We live in a society where it's cool to be criminal.
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Part of my joy as a singer is to give gifts to people, and one way I try to connect to them is to add something in French or German or whatever.
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While I revel in the memories of my own Grammy moment, I also know how it feels to walk away empty-handed.